Local Binary Patterns on Hexagonal Image Structure

Local binary pattern (LBP) was designed and widely used for efficient texture classification. It has been used for face recognition and has potential applications in many other research areas such as human detection. LBP provides a simple and effective way to represent patterns. Uniform LBPs play an important role for LBP-based pattern /object recognition as they include majority of LBPs. In this paper, we present LBP codes on hexagonal image structure. We show that LBPs defined on hexagonal structure have higher percentages of uniform LBPs that will lead to a more efficient and accurate recognition scheme for image classification

Brugia malayi Gene Expression in Response to the Targeting of the Wolbachia Endosymbiont by Tetracycline Treatment

Filarial parasites afflict hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide, and cause significant public health problems in many of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the human filarial parasite species, including Brugia malayi, harbor endosymbiotic bacteria of the genus Wolbachia. Elimination of the endosymbiont leads to sterilization of the adult female worm. The need exists for the development of new chemotherapeutic approaches that can practically exploit the vulnerability of the filaria to the loss of the Wolbachia. In this study we performed ultrastructural and microarray analyses of female worms collected from infected jirds treated with tetracycline. Results suggest that the endosymbiotic bacteria were specifically affected by the antibiotic. Furthermore, in response to the targeting of the endosymbiont, the parasites modulated expression of their genes. When exposed to tetracycline, the parasites over-expressed genes involved in protein synthesis. Expression of genes involved in cuticle biosynthesis and energy metabolism was, on the other hand, limited

Differential Expression of CD163 on Monocyte Subsets in Healthy and HIV-1 Infected Individuals

CD163, a haptoglobin-hemoglobin (Hp-Hb) scavenger receptor, expressed by monocytes and macrophages, is important in resolution of inflammation. Age-related non-AIDS co-morbidities in HIV-infected individuals, particularly dementia and cardiovascular disease, result in part from effects of HIV-1 infection on monocyte and macrophage biology. CD163 co-expression on CD14+CD16++ monocytes has been proposed as a useful biomarker for HIV-1 disease progression and the presence of HIV associated dementia. Here we investigated CD163 expression on monocyte subsets ex vivo, on cultured macrophages, and soluble in plasma, in the setting of HIV-1 infection. Whole blood immunophenotyping revealed CD163 expression on CD14++CD16- monocytes but not on CD14+CD16++ monocytes (P = 0.004), supported by CD163 mRNA levels. Incubation with M-CSF induced CD163 protein expression on CD14+CD16++ monocytes to the same extent as CD14++CD16− monocytes. CD163 expression on CD14++CD16+ monocytes from HIV-infected subjects was significantly higher than from uninfected individuals, with a trend towards increased expression on CD14++CD16− monocytes (P = 0.019 and 0.069 respectively), which is accounted for by HIV-1 therapy including protease inhibitors. Shedding of CD163 was shown to predominantly occur from the CD14++CD16− subset after Ficoll isolation and LPS stimulation. Soluble CD163 concentration in plasma from HIV-1 infected donors was similar to HIV-1 uninfected donors. Monocyte CD163 expression in HIV-1 infected patients showed a complicated relationship with classical measures of disease progression. Our findings clarify technical issues regarding CD163 expression on monocyte subsets and further elucidates its role in HIV-associated inflammation by demonstrating that CD163 is readily lost from CD14++CD16− monocytes and induced in pro-inflammatory CD14+CD16++ monocytes by M-CSF. Our data show that all monocyte subsets are potentially capable of differentiating into CD163-expressing anti-inflammatory macrophages given appropriate stimuli. Levels of CD163 expression on monocytes may be a potential biomarker reflecting efforts by the immune system to resolve immune activation and inflammation in HIV-infected individuals

Differential Expression of CD163 on Monocyte Subsets in Healthy and HIV-1 Infected Individuals

CD163, a haptoglobin-hemoglobin (Hp-Hb) scavenger receptor, expressed by monocytes and macrophages, is important in resolution of inflammation. Age-related non-AIDS co-morbidities in HIV-infected individuals, particularly dementia and cardiovascular disease, result in part from effects of HIV-1 infection on monocyte and macrophage biology. CD163 co-expression on CD14+CD16++ monocytes has been proposed as a useful biomarker for HIV-1 disease progression and the presence of HIV associated dementia. Here we investigated CD163 expression on monocyte subsets ex vivo, on cultured macrophages, and soluble in plasma, in the setting of HIV-1 infection. Whole blood immunophenotyping revealed CD163 expression on CD14++CD16- monocytes but not on CD14+CD16++ monocytes (P = 0.004), supported by CD163 mRNA levels. Incubation with M-CSF induced CD163 protein expression on CD14+CD16++ monocytes to the same extent as CD14++CD16− monocytes. CD163 expression on CD14++CD16+ monocytes from HIV-infected subjects was significantly higher than from uninfected individuals, with a trend towards increased expression on CD14++CD16− monocytes (P = 0.019 and 0.069 respectively), which is accounted for by HIV-1 therapy including protease inhibitors. Shedding of CD163 was shown to predominantly occur from the CD14++CD16− subset after Ficoll isolation and LPS stimulation. Soluble CD163 concentration in plasma from HIV-1 infected donors was similar to HIV-1 uninfected donors. Monocyte CD163 expression in HIV-1 infected patients showed a complicated relationship with classical measures of disease progression. Our findings clarify technical issues regarding CD163 expression on monocyte subsets and further elucidates its role in HIV-associated inflammation by demonstrating that CD163 is readily lost from CD14++CD16− monocytes and induced in pro-inflammatory CD14+CD16++ monocytes by M-CSF. Our data show that all monocyte subsets are potentially capable of differentiating into CD163-expressing anti-inflammatory macrophages given appropriate stimuli. Levels of CD163 expression on monocytes may be a potential biomarker reflecting efforts by the immune system to resolve immune activation and inflammation in HIV-infected individuals

Bi-lateral filtering based edge detection on hexagonal architecture

Edge detection plays an important role in image processing area but is still an open problem. This paper presents a novel edge detection method based on bi-lateral filtering which achieves better performance than single Gaussian filtering. In this form of filtering, both spatial closeness and intensity similarity of pixels are considered in order to preserve important visual cues provided by edges and reduce the sharpness of transitions in intensity values as well. In addition, the edge detection method proposed in this paper is achieved on hexagonally sampled images. Due to the compact and circular nature of the hexagonal lattice, a better quality edge map is obtained on hexagonal architecture than common edge detection on square architecture. Experimental results using our proposed method in this paper exhibit encouraging performance